Sustainability

Category Archives: Circular Economy

The Queen declares war on plastic after David Attenborough documentary

Buckingham Palace outlined new waste plans and said there was a ‘strong desire to tackle the issue’ at the highest levels of the Royal household.

It is thought that the Queen became personally interested in the problem of plastic after working with Sir David Attenborough on a conservation documentary dealing with wildlife in the Commonwealth.

The new measures include gradually phasing out plastic straws in public cafes and banning them altogether in staff dining rooms.

Internal caterers at Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, and the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh will now only be allowed to use china plates and glasses, or recyclable paper cups.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/02/11/queen-declares-war-plastic-david-attenborough-documentary/

Hemp Offers Benefits For The Future

The Polo Hemp Mill in Illinois began operation on November 20, 1943. At that time there were more than 3,200 hemp growers in the state.

Educational materials and propaganda videos such as “Victory for Hemp” were sponsored by the U.S. government, assuring cultivation would be backed by our military and economy.

Considering this happened 74 years ago this fall, we see the same struggles in the present-day relationship between farmers and industrial hemp in Illinois. This time around, a massive effort is required to establish sustainability and resilience within our agricultural system and the next economy, not the war effort.

Once again, farmers need assurance that hemp is a viable crop for their rotation and that hemp will not only benefit their pocketbooks as a fiber crop, but also is a powerful ally in environmental restoration.

Requiring little water and no fertilizers or pesticides to grow, hemp thrives in marginal soil. It removes chemicals that seep into waterways. It can replace paper products, reducing deforestation that encroaches on fragile ecosystems. And that’s just a start.

The market for hemp products is vast and growing rapidly. It includes durable textiles; strong, ecofriendly building materials; natural cosmetics; petroleum free bio-plastics and biofuels; beneficial, non-psychoactive medicines; and nutrient dense foods.

As a first-generation farmer, and a woman, I am so thrilled to have a future in hemp on my horizon. My devotion to this plant stems from a realization that regenerative agriculture is my only path to an honest living.

I’m Rachel Berry, and that’s my perspective.

http://northernpublicradio.org/post/hemp-offers-benefits-future

There is a great future in bioplastics. But businesses and consumers need to change first

In Mike Nichols’s 1967 film, The Graduate, a disillusioned college grad, Ben, played by Dustin Hoffman, is taken aside at a party by a family friend, Mr. McGuire.

“I want to say one word to you, just one word,” Mr. McGuire tells him.

“Yes, sir.”

“Are you listening?”

“Yes, I am,” Ben says, nodding.

“Plastics.”

“Exactly how do you mean?” Ben asks.

“There’s a great future in plastics. Think about it. Will you think about it?”

The “plastics” quote became the film’s best-known line, and one of the best known in American cinema. And you know what? Mr. McGuire was right.

In the 1960s, plastics were mostly used for durable goods, from car seats to sleek, Italian-designed kitchenware. Shortly thereafter, the use of single-use, throwaway plastic for beverages, food, shopping bags and containers exploded, creating fortunes for the petrochemicals companies that would churn out hundreds of millions of tonnes of polyethylene, the most common and cheapest of the plastics.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/rob-commentary/plastics-there-is-a-great-future-in-bioplastics-will-you-think-about-it/article37669410/

INSIDE COCA-COLA’S SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGY

The Coca-Cola Company in Western Europe and Coca-Cola European Partners have launched a first ever joint Sustainability Action Plan for western Europe, entitled ‘This is Forward’, setting out new commitments on drinks, packaging and society. Developed through a consultation process encompassing 100 stakeholders, governments, NGOs and customers, as well as 12,000 consumers and a thousand of its own employees across Europe, the plan sets respective targets of 100 per cent packaging collection and 50 per cent recycled content for PET bottles by 2025. Joe Franses (vice president, Sustainability, ‎Coca-Cola European Partners) and Ulrike Sapiro (director of sustainability, Coca-Cola Western Europe) reveal the iconic brand owner’s packaging strategy to Packaging Europe.

‘This is Forward’ sets out an aim to collect 100 per cent of Coca-Cola’s packaging in western Europe. What concrete steps and collaborations do you have in place to realise this?

https://packagingeurope.com/inside-coca-cola-sustainability-action-plan-europe/

The Business of Planting Trees: A Growing Investment Opportunity

Planting trees as a business venture

The World Resources Institute (WRI) and The Nature Conservancy (TNC) analyzed over 140 companies that have made landscape restoration and reforestation their core business model. Out of all those companies, 14 who had reached median sales growth of 100 percent in 2017, were showcased in a new report titled The Business of Planting Trees: A Growing Investment Opportunity.

The restoration economy, according to the report, refers to the network of businesses, investors, and consumers that engage in an economic activity related to restoring the land. And while there are no officials records on the size of the restoration economy, yet, it does include a vast array of companies, including early stage, pre-revenue startups to timber funds that manage billions of dollars. Similarly, the goods and services produced by these companies vary widely as well, from biofuels to climate-smart credit systems to green infrastructure.

Read more:  http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/environment/startups-emerging-in-the-restoration-and-reforestation-economy/article/512592#ixzz54mz1NtfM

 

http://www.wri.org/publication/business-of-planting-trees

Responsible consumption, a guide to a zero-waste New Year

It’s early in the new year and there is no other way to hit the ground running than an inspiring new year compliments and ambitious felicitation, may the new year bring fulfillment to set goals and aspirations.

New year resolution is a tradition in which an individual resolve to change an undesired trait or behavior, to accomplish a certain personal goal or otherwise improve their lives.

Responsible consumption, a guide to a zero-waste New Year

Recycling Must Be Included in the Infrastructure Bill

As Congress and the Trump administration contemplate a $1 trillion investment in infrastructure, the question of how to utilize those dollars looms large. If the focus is just asphalt and concrete, it will miss the heart of American manufacturing. At the top of manufacturers’ needs is access to good, consistent, high-quality feedstocks to make into new products. Let’s help meet that need with some of the best possible domestic sources of raw materials: the paper, plastics, glass, metals and packaging discarded by U.S. homes and businesses. That means including funding for improved recycling in the infrastructure bill as a way to ensure long-term reliable supply created right here at home.

https://www.ecowatch.com/infrastructure-bill-recycling-2524851660.html

 

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